Animatronic Shadows
by connorevan
Summary: A new janitor is hired to work the night shift, but things quickly turn into a bigger mess that no one wants to be the one to clean up. Something I wrote a few years back. Rated M for some violence.
1. Part One

The man walked down the sidewalk, humming to himself as he went along to distract himself from the suspense. He had applied for a job just recently, and

called to come in to the office. Nothing would be disclosed over the phone, but his possible soon-to-be-employer sounded very excited.

He opened the door to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza- a restaurant focused mainly on children's parties, but was still enjoyable to the entire family.

"Sir, we don't open until eleven-thirty," The woman who was preparing tables spoke. "I have to ask you to leave- oh! You were called here, weren't you?! I'm so sorry! I didn't realize-"

He chuckled slightly. "That's quite alright, miss. No worries. Would you mind directing me to Mr. Cawthon's office?"

"Of course." The woman answered. "I'm Abigail. I'm a waitress here." She smiled at him, her honey brown eyes shining.

"I'm Stephan." He responded. "Stephan Matthews." His emerald eyes flitted to the clock. "It's ten forty-five. I don't want you to be late."

"Right. Mr. Cawthon's office is right this way." She led him down a long hallway. "I've got to get to work. Good luck, Mr. Matthews." She went back to setting up the tables.

Stephan cleared his throat and knocked on the door. "Mr. Cawthon?"

"Come on in." He called, respectfully closing his laptop and stood. "You must be Mr. Matthews." He smiled and shook his hand.

He nodded, shaking his hand back. "I'm sorry it took so long to get here."

"Don't worry about that, it's no big deal."

"If I may ask, what did you call me here to talk about?"

Mr. Cawthon chuckled at that. "You got the job, Mr. Matthews! Congratulations, and welcome to the family!"

"Thank you, sir. It's a great honor." Stephan smiled gratefully.

"It's an honor to have you, Mr. Matthews. I'll have Abigail show you around, and we'll let you go home and rest up before your first workday... Er, work-night."

Mr. Cawthon patted him on the back, and he went out to see Abigail.

"Well?" She questioned. "How'd it go?"

"I got the job!" He announced.

"Awesome! I knew you would! Does he want me to show you around?"

"Uh, yeah, if you don't mind."

"Not at all." She walked him through the building, opening the door to a small room. The walls were covered with posters, and there was a small fan on the desk, whirring quietly. "This is Mike's office. He's the night guard. He makes sure no one tampers with the animatronics during the night. You shouldn't need to go in there, unless you get put on watchman duty... which wouldn't happen." She continued along, showing Stephan around the building. "And that's pretty much it.

Any questions?"

"Nope, I think I got it. Thanks for all your help."

Abigail nodded. "Anytime. You get home and rest up, alright?"

"Right. I'll see you around, I guess." He headed out the door, the bell jangling behind him.

 _Tonight would be a long night..._


	2. Part Two

At precisely eleven-fifty that night, Stephan walked in the door of the pizzeria. The day shift workers were long gone, and the only one there was Mike. He walked

through the door of the office.

"Hey, Mike." Stephan greeted, waving politely.

"Hey. You're the new janitor, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, that's me."

Mike smiled warily, but Stephan was blind to his tension.

"Everything you need's in the supply closet. Your shift ends whenever everything is done."

"Alright, then. Nice to meet you."

Stephan walked out of Mike's office, headed towards the supply closet. He pulled the mop bucket out, and turned on the faucet, squirting soap into the bucket. It

provided him with a moment of sound, temporarily calming his nerves from the torturous silence of the empty building. His moment of relief ended as he turned

off the water, and silence ensued, chilling him through to his bones with fright.

 _'What's to be afraid of?'_ A voice inside his head asked, trying to set him at ease.

Without an answer, Stephan proceeded to mop the East Hall.

* * *

Foxy whirred to life behind the curtain of Pirate Cove. He had charged for awhile, and now was ready to wander. His gears quietly turned and screeched as he ran

down the East Hall, the sound of the fan compelling him. He was quickly met with a shut door, and he roared, opening his jaw slightly to display his frustration.

 _He had only wanted to follow the rules!_

Foxy peered through the window at the West Hall. The edges of his sharp teeth gleamed as Mike flickered the light, frightening the security guard to a standstill,

the lights powering off. He concentrated and saw the edge of a figure's backbone through the security office's windows. He dashed to a point where Mike could

not see him, nor the strange figure. He observed him for a moment as he mopped the floor, but did not see him as human. He dashed backstage, beckoning

Chica with a wordless grinding of his gears, notifying her of the rule breaker.

Chica ground her gears back, and went to search for Bonnie and Freddy, but could not find them. She quickly returned backstage, but Foxy had already gone.


	3. Part Three

Mike checked the doors for animatronics, then flipped to the East Hall's camera.

 _Nothing._

Then the West Hall. His eyes widened in horror as he watched Foxy slowly creep toward Stephan from behind. He picked up his pager.

"Stephan! Look out! He's behind you-!" His heart fell in dismay, as he realized he hadn't given Stephan the pager as he was supposed to.

Freddy's eyes became visible in the darkness of the left doorway. Before Mike could react, he had walked in. A sound of a sword being pulled out of it's hilt sounded as his claws withdrew. He cackled wickedly, creeping closer to Mike.

"You've broken the rules... And there are no suits left... So I'll have to scrap you." His voice box crackled with misuse, but the sound was still terrifying.

Mike backed away. "I-I'm not an Endoskeleton! I'm a person, Freddy! A human being! Like the people who come in during the daytime!" He reasoned, backing into the corner.

Freddy ignored him, swinging his arm at his chest like a club, the claws deeply piercing his flesh. A tearing sound filled the room as he dragged his hand downwards, staining his paw deep crimson. Mike screamed in agony, writhing and panting, the wound throbbing with his heartbeats. Blood gushed out like waterfalls, staining everything in close proximity. He almost sighed in relief as he felt the claw pull back, but he knew he had no more days left when the claw re-entered into his forearm.

Stephan hummed softly to himself as he continued to mop. The sound of gears grinding into each other made his blood run cold. He turned his head to look

behind him. Only the darkness of the empty hall was visible.

"Damn nerves..." He muttered to himself, going back to mopping.

Within a heartbeat's time, Foxy charged at him, picking him up from behind.

"WHOA! HEY!" Stephan screamed, feeling metallic claws dig into his sides. A clamp pushed heavily over his mouth, letting no air in or out. He breathed heavily

from his nose, flailing his legs.

Chica waddled quickly up to them, clicking to Foxy.

'You take the feet. I've got the hands.'

Foxy released his hand off of Stephan's mouth, and moved his hands from his abdomen to his feet, steadily and tightly gripping his ankle. His metal fingers and

hook dug into his flesh, making Stephan cry out.

Chica grabbed his wrists, wrapping her wings around them tightly. Working together, they began to carry him towards the room where the only barren animatronic suit lay.

Stephan began to thrash around. "MIKE! MIKE! HELP!" No answer came, as Mike was already gone.

'Damn bastard must have fallen asleep again...' He thought to himself. He made himself go limp, trying to trick Foxy and Chica into dropping him.

No such luck. Their grip only strengthened, Foxy's claws digging deeper into the flesh of his ankle, drawing blood. The door opened, revealing an empty room,

similar to the supply closet.

A suit shaped like a golden bear lay on the floor, the eye sockets and mouth stained with rings of red. Stephan shuddered slightly, his pulse increasing.

What the hell was going on?!

Bonnie arrived, and he hauled the suit up off the floor so it stood up. He pulled the head back, opening the suit.

A horrid odor filled the room, making Stephan retch with disgust and agony. His throat crawled, and his stomach churned furiously, head aflame. He retched

more as he peered inside the suit. A rotted corpse soaked in blood and mucus sat inside it, and he became even more desperate for escape. He bent his wrist in close precision, and ripped Chica's bib away.

Chica shrieked loud and high pitched, throwing her wings over her chest, making Stephan land on the floor, his ankles slipping from Foxy's grip.

Taking the chance, he bolted from the room into Mike's office, shutting both of the doors. He grimaced and choked in horror as he saw Mike's body on the floor, huge gashes torn into his abdomen and his limbs.

"S-Stephan..." Mike coughed, blood coming out of his mouth. "B-Behind... Y-You..." He strained, before his eyes shut, and he fell limp, breathing stopped.

Stephan turned to find Freddy behind him. His scream resonated off the walls, and he opened the door of the West Hall and bolted out of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, tripping on the sidewalk and clunking his head on the concrete.


	4. Finale

Stephan slowly lifted his eyelashes, a bright light meeting his gaze. He groaned and tried to lift his arm to block the light, but failed, as the tube attached to his vein prevented him from doing do.

"Stephan? Stephan! You're awake!" Mr. Cawthon exclaimed. "I'm so sorry about what happened... Someone's been tampering with the animatronics-"

"Sir," the nurse insisted, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Maybe it's best that you refrain from explaining what happened until Mr. Matthews is in a better state..."

"Right, right. Sorry, ma'am."

"I'm not the one to apologize to- Mr. Matthews!" She ran over to his bedside. "You have to leave the IV in."

"I-It hurts.." He murmured.

"If you don't tug at it, it'll hurt less."

He nodded slightly. "What happened yesterday?" He asked.

"A glitch in the system." Mr. Cawthon replied. "Someone's been tampering-"

"Mr. Cawthon," The nurse exclaimed. "I've told you once, he is not in well enough condition to-!"

"I-I'm fine, miss. He can go on."

"Alright then..." She murmured, exiting the room to make her rounds.

"Someone's been tampering with the animatronics. They haven't been acting up, or else we would have told you. But, in order for us to fix the problem, we need to know exactly what happened."

He took a shaky breath. "Foxy and Chica carried me off to a room that wasn't shown on the cameras, and it had another animatronic suit there. Bonnie opened it, like they were gonna put me in it, and it had a bloody corpse inside of it... I went to hide in the camera room, and Freddy was in there... A-And Mike was there, all torn up... He told me to look out just before he died, and Freddy was behind me. I ran out, and I tripped on the sidewalk. Then I woke up here, with this damn IV in my arm."

Mr. Cawthon nodded. "We'll shut down the restaurant for a week. Get everything cleaned up! The animatronics rewired. After that, we'll report Mike as missing, and everything will be as if it never happened.

"But, you must swear to _absolute secrecy."_


End file.
